Gas rights offer to get final legislative vote

Single 'no' vote ensures discussion

Jul. 15, 2010

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A $16 million offer for gas rights on county-owned property moved another step closer to final approval Thursday, getting the nod from a legislative committee to proceed to a final July 22 vote by the Broome County Legislature.

The five-member Finance Committee voted 4-1 in favor of a proposal that would allow county Executive Barbara J. Fiala to sign a five-year lease with Infection Energy of Denver. The company would pay $3,000 an acre on about 3,900 acres of land.

If approved, the full amount would be paid within 90 days of the lease signing. The deal offers the county 20 percent royalties and the option of an additional $3,000 per acre for three years after the initial five-year lease.

Committee member Jerry Marinich, a Town of Chenango Republican and the legislature's minority chairman, voted against the measure.

"I'm just not comfortable with the offer," Marinch said after the vote. "I think it needs more discussion."

A unanimous vote of all five committee members would have put the measure on the legislature's "preferred agenda," meaning it would not require discussion before the July 22 vote. Marinich's "no" vote ensured the proposal would be discussed July 22 before a vote is taken, the lawmaker said after Thursday's meeting.

Democrats on the committee voted in favor of the measure: Mark Whalen of Binghamton, who is also the committee's chairman; Suzann Buchta of Johnson City, Barry Klipsch of Vestal; and Joseph Merrill of Binghamton.

Merrill, who also represents Binghamton on legislature, sat in for Gene LaBare, an Endicott Democrat who was out of town Thursday. Buchta substituted for Democrat Steve Herz, who is precluded from discussing and voting on the gas lease because he's involved with a land coalition. Legislators routinely substitute for other legislators in committee votes.

In addition to Herz, three other legislators are barred from participating in natural gas issues because they are involved in land coalitions or have already signed a contract with an energy company.

The four lawmakers -- out of 19 -- will not be allowed to vote July 22 on the gas proposal, meaning eight lawmakers will have to vote "yes" for the measure to pass next week.

The public will have its say on the Inflection offer at a public hearing scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday in legislative chambers on the sixth floor of the Broome County Office Building on Hawley Street in Binghamton. Participants will have until 6:30 p.m. to speak on the proposal, county officials said Thursday.